Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
The Robesonian, Lumberton | ||||||||||
Lumberton, North Carolina | ||||||||||
Owner: Heartland Publications (Fla.) | ||||||||||
From a report for the Knight Foundation | ||||||||||
by Bill Dedman and Stephen K. Doig, June 2005 | ||||||||||
Click here to read the national report or to select another newspaper | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff |
|
||||||||
2005 | 21.4 | |||||||||
2004 | 13.3 | |||||||||
2003 | 16.7 | |||||||||
2002 | 14.3 | |||||||||
2001 | 41.7 | |||||||||
2000 | 16.7 | |||||||||
1999 | 23.1 | |||||||||
1998 | 14.3 | |||||||||
1997 | 46.2 | |||||||||
1996 | Did not report | |||||||||
1995 | 13.3 | |||||||||
1994 | Did not report | |||||||||
1993 | 23.1 | |||||||||
1992 | 18.2 | |||||||||
1991 | 18.2 | |||||||||
1990 | Did not report | |||||||||
The latest year at peak is | 1997 | |||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Newsroom Diversity Index | ||||||||||
for The Robesonian, Lumberton | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | 21.4 | 71.0 | 30 | |||||||
2004 | 13.3 | 71.0 | 19 | |||||||
How the index is calculated | ||||||||||
The Newsroom Diversity Index is the non-white percentage of the newsroom staff | ||||||||||
divided by the non-white percentage of residents in the circulation area. | ||||||||||
(Parity = 100.) | ||||||||||
Company index | ||||||||||
This newspaper's owner, Heartland Publications (Fla.), | ||||||||||
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 85. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Peer group comparison | ||||||||||
for The Robesonian, Lumberton | ||||||||||
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 30. | This paper | |||||||||
Peer group | ||||||||||
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers | ||||||||||
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales. | ||||||||||
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 134 out of 259 | ||||||||||
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales. | ||||||||||
An example of a newspaper of similar circulation, in an area of similar level of non-white residents, but one that has a relatively high Diversity Index, is The Salinas Californian, California, with a 45.8 percent non-white staff in a community that is 72 percent non-white. Its index is 64. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 12,689 ranks 687 out of 1,410 daily newspapers in the US. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Details on race/ethnicity | ||||||||||
in the circulation area | ||||||||||
and the home county | ||||||||||
of The Robesonian, Lumberton | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 5.0 | 6,068 | ||||||||
Black | 24.7 | 30,023 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4 | 444 | ||||||||
Native-American | 39.7 | 48,210 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.2 | 187 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 1.2 | 1,401 | ||||||||
Non-white | 71.0 | 86,333 | ||||||||
White | 29.0 | 35,255 | ||||||||
Total | 121,588 | |||||||||
Home county: Robeson | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 4.9 | 5,994 | ||||||||
Black | 25.0 | 30,827 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4 | 432 | ||||||||
Native-American | 37.7 | 46,459 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.2 | 201 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 1.2 | 1,427 | ||||||||
Non-white | 69.2 | 85,340 | ||||||||
White | 30.8 | 37,999 | ||||||||
Total | 123,339 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Robeson. | ||||||||||
About this report | ||||||||||
This third annual report for the Knight Foundation adds context to an annual survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. ASNE has set a goal that | ||||||||||
every newspaper, to help it know its community and gather the news, should employ at least one non-white journalist, and that newspapers should strive to | ||||||||||
employ non-whites in proportion to their share of the community. ASNE's report, at www.asne.org, shows each newspaper's non-white employment, but does | ||||||||||
not disclose how closely that employment mirrors the newspaper's circulation area. | ||||||||||
That gap is filled by the report you are reading now. This report was not done by ASNE, but was done for the Knight Foundation by Bill Dedman and | ||||||||||
Stephen K. Doig. It shows how close each newspaper is to ASNE's goal, by comparing the newsroom staffing with the circulation area population. | ||||||||||
The full report is at www.powerreporting.com/knight. | ||||||||||
Notes and definitions | ||||||||||
1. The Newsroom Diversity Index is the non-white percentage of the newsroom staff divided by the non-white percentage of the circulation area's residents. Parity = 100. | ||||||||||
2. Source for staffing: Survey by American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 2005. Newspapers report non-white staff as of the end of the previous year. | ||||||||||
3. Following ASNE's definition, newsroom staff includes only supervisors, reporters, editors, copy/layout editors and photographers. | ||||||||||
4. Also following ASNE's definition, "whites," "blacks," etc., exclude Hispanics, who are counted in a separate category. | ||||||||||
5. Source for boundaries of this newspaper's circulation area: ZIP Code circulation data, Audit Bureau of Circulations, latest available. | ||||||||||
6. A paper may define its circulation area differently for marketing efforts, or news coverage, or to set advertising rates. | ||||||||||
7. If ZIP Codes or counties are used, this report applies a threshold: 10 percent household penetration is required to include an area in the circulation area. | ||||||||||
8. Source for the demographics of residents of that circulation area: US Census 2000. | ||||||||||
9. Source for total circulation: Editor & Publisher magazine, Monday-Friday average at year-end 2004. | ||||||||||
10. Staff of non-English publications, such as the Miami Herald's El Nuevo Herald, are excluded from the ASNE staffing survey for the first time this year. | ||||||||||
Demographics of ZIP Codes | ||||||||||
where sales were reported by | ||||||||||
The Robesonian, Lumberton | ||||||||||
Note that some ZIP Codes listed here may not have been included in determining the newspaper's circulation area. In calculating the Diversity Index, a | ||||||||||
ZIP Code was included only if the household penetration was at least 10 percent. Any lower-penetration ZIP Codes are also listed here for your information. | ||||||||||
Also, if the newspaper reported more than 300 ZIP Codes, only the top 300 in weekday sales are listed here. | ||||||||||
ZIP / City / State / Approx. distance in miles from the newspaper's home office | Weekday sales | Households | Penetration % (daily sales per 100 households) | Median household income | Non-white % of population |
Hispanic % of population |
Black % of population |
Native % of population |
Asian % of population |
|
28358 / Lumberton / NC / 0 mi. | 5,620 | 13,601 | 41.3 | $29,275 | 51.6 | 3.8 | 28.8 | 17.3 | 0.6 | |
28360 / Lumberton / NC / 0.7 mi. | 1,857 | 4,373 | 42.5 | $29,727 | 79.2 | 7.4 | 10.5 | 59.5 | 0.2 | |
28372 / Pembroke / NC / 10.7 mi. | 1,588 | 4,151 | 38.3 | $28,515 | 91.4 | 1.7 | 4.7 | 83.2 | 0.3 | |
28340 / Fairmont / NC / 13.6 mi. | 1,200 | 4,044 | 29.7 | $26,015 | 70.3 | 1.9 | 39.0 | 28.2 | 0.1 | |
28364 / Maxton / NC / 19.1 mi. | 509 | 4,689 | 10.9 | $25,550 | 89.0 | 1.1 | 24.6 | 61.5 | 0.3 | |
28377 / Red Springs / NC / 14.5 mi. | 473 | 3,975 | 11.9 | $26,606 | 79.9 | 9.3 | 32.4 | 36.6 | 0.3 | |
28384 / Saint Pauls / NC / 11.6 mi. | 443 | 3,707 | 12.0 | $24,979 | 53.1 | 10.2 | 29.4 | 12.1 | 0.4 | |
28383 / Rowland / NC / 16.1 mi. | 373 | 2,680 | 13.9 | $28,430 | 87.1 | 1.2 | 29.5 | 55.1 | 0.1 | |
28386 / Shannon / NC / 21.1 mi. | 231 | 1,736 | 13.3 | $28,378 | 85.9 | 16.9 | 14.8 | 52.3 | 0.2 | |
28320 / Bladenboro / NC / 14.1 mi. | 195 | 3,719 | 5.2 | $26,738 | 23.5 | 1.5 | 20.6 | 0.7 | 0.1 | |
28371 / Parkton / NC / 18.9 mi. | 130 | 1,714 | 7.6 | $38,994 | 37.1 | 4.0 | 25.2 | 5.4 | 0.5 | |
28369 / Orrum / NC / 13.9 mi. | 87 | 1,061 | 8.2 | $32,610 | 39.4 | 2.8 | 26.0 | 9.3 | 0.1 | |
28357 / Lumber Bridge / NC / 17.8 mi. | 61 | 991 | 6.2 | $35,151 | 54.1 | 3.6 | 35.1 | 13.3 | 0.4 | |
File | nc_the_robesonian__lumberton | |||||||||
Time | 5/21/05 8:36 PM | |||||||||
Page | 686 | |||||||||
Member | 133050 |